European art after 1900

European Art after 1900 in the National Museum, Cardiff.

By 1900 Impressionism had lost its revolutionary edge and began to be viewed as a safe, academic style. Artists rejected loose, impressionistic brushwork and even questioned the need to capture the visual appearance of the world.

The recognition that the formal qualities of a work (such as shape, line, texture and colour) could be important and expressive in their own right led to the development of abstract or non-representational art.

A little later a group of radical artists looked to unleash the power of the subconscious imagination. The Surrealist movement began in Paris in the 1920s and developed new artistic techniques to connect with dreams and the subconscious. Like the development of abstraction some ten years earlier, Surrealism's influence soon spread across Europe.

Andre Derain, The Church at Vers, 1912, (oil on canvas)

This landscape has been painted from a window in a knowingly naive, almost child-like way. Derain wanted to paint with honesty and directness. He found these qualities in the work of Cezanne and the 'primitive' painting of the early Italian Renaissance.

Christopher Wood, The Rug Seller, Treboul, 1930, (oil on board)

David Jones, Jesus Mocked, 1922-23, (oil on tongue and groove board)

Ceri Richards, Costers at Coconut Shy, 1943

Graham Sutherland, Fountain, 1963

Mary Fedden, Fruit and Flowers, 1946

Rene Magritte, Le Masque Vide, 1928

Jean Lurcat, La Tour Carree, 1927

Ceri Richards, Black and White, 1936

Paul Nash, Plage, 1928

Stanley Spencer, Souvenir of Switzerland, 1935, (oil on canvas)

looking closer

looking closer

Gwen John, Girl in a Blue Dress, 1914-15, (oil on canvas)

Portraits of women are the most frequent subject of Gwen John's oil paintings. As here, they tend to place the subject in an extremely simple interior. They are frequently three-quarter length with the figure clasping her hands. John was born in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, but spent most of her career living in France.

Gwen John, Mere Poussepin Seated at a Table, mid-1910s,  (oil on canvas)

Gwen John, Girl in a Green Dress, 1920s-early 1920s, (oil on canvas)

This work is from a series of at least eight almost identical paintings of the same model, a neighbour at Meudon. The chalky surface has been created using paint applied dryly and evenly in small brushstrokes.

Augustus John, Dorelia McNeill in the Garden of Alderney Manor, 1922, (oil on canvas)

Augustus John, A French Fisherboy, 1907, (oil on canvas)

French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism

French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism at the National Museum of Art, Cardiff .

Thanks to the Davies sisters Cardiff Museum has a substantial collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. Gwendoline Davies and Margaret Davies amassed one of the great British art collections of the 20th century. Together, they bequeathed 260 works to the National Museum of Wales in 1951 and 1962, completely transforming its art collection in character, quality and range.

Camille Pissarro, Sunset, the Port of Rouen Steamboats, 1898, (oil on canvas)

Camille Pissarro, Pont Neuf, Snow Effect, 2nd series, 1902, (oil on canvas)

The Pont Neuf was one of the busiest bridges in central Paris. The pavements are crowded with people carrying umbrellas while carriages and an early motorcar drive past through the snow. This wintry image is one of 14 painted by Pisarrro of this location. He avoided the problems of working outdoors by renting rooms overlooking the river. This also accounts for the high viewpoint.

Edouard Manet, The Rabbit, 1881, (oil on canvas)

Intended as one of four decorative panels, this work displays a bold, loose style. Completed in the final years of his life, the painting contrasts greatly with Manet's earlier, more conventional compositions of dead game. The work was rejected by the 1882 Salon Exhibition.

Claude Monet, The Thames at London, 1871, (oil on canvas)

Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Young Girl in Blue, 1883, (oil on canvas)

Although this study is unfinished, Renoir's brushwork appears more firmly defined than in earlier works. It was painted at a time when Renoir was reconsidering his technique and looking to works by the Old Masters for inspiration. The bright colours painted onto a white background are, however, still distinctly characteristic of Impressionism.

Edouard Manet, Effects of Snow at Petit-Montrouge, 1870

Edouard Degas, Dressed Dancer, 1879080, (bronze)

Degas wanted the dancer to look as real as possible and dressed the finished version in a linen corset and tutu.

Auguste Rodin, The Kiss, 1887, (bronze)

Vincent Van Gogh, Rain, Auvers, 1890, (oil on canvas)

The lashing rain, vigorous brushwork and contrasting colours express Van Gogh's emotional turmoil at a time of deep personal depression. The wide panoramic format is typical of the group of wheat-field paintings which he produced in June to July 1890, shortly before he shot himself. He wrote to his brother Theo: 'they depict vast, distended wheat fields under angry skies, the I deliberately tried to express sadness and extreme loneliness in them'. The crows circling at the centre seem particularly foreboding.

Auguste Rodin, Eve, 1881-1890s (bronze)

Hiding her face in her arms and cowering in shame, Eve is depicted at the moment that god expressed her from the garden of Eden. Rodin described the difficulty he had sculpting the figure's pelvis. He discovered later that his model was pregnant and felt it added further significance to the subject portrayal.

Claude Monet, Waterlillies, 1906, (oil on canvas)

Claude Monet, Waterlillies, 1906, (oil on canvas)

Claude Monet, The Palazzo Dario, 1908, (oil on canvas)

Claude Monet, San Giorgo Magghiore by Twilight, 1908, (oil on canvas)

Paul Cezanne, Provencal Landscape, 1887-88, (oil on canvas)

'I wanted to make of Impressionism something solid and enduring like the art in museums'.

This simple woodland scene demonstrates Cezanne's complex artistic theories. Contrasting colours and brushstrokes painted in different directions toy with our sense of space and depth. He wanted to create an illusion of form as well as light.

Paul Cezanne, The Francois Zola Dam, 1879, (oil on canvas)

Cezanne's intricate S-shaped composition leads us through the landscape to the high summit of Mont-Saint-Victoire. The blue waters and grey wall of the dam are nestled into the greens and yellow forms of the sunbaked rocky hillside.

Claude Monet, San Giorgio Maggiore, 1908, (oil on canvas)

Craft in the bay

Craft in the Bay is wonderful: they sell all sorts of crafts, but for me, it's the ceramics. This was my fourth visit (we always visit when we go to Cardiff). I love browsing here, and occasionally buying. I have seen work by unknown potters here, who a few years later have become well-known nationally and sought after.

Paul Taylor:

Most of his work is slab built in terracotta, but some of the smaller pieces are slipcast. Each piece is then decorated with a variety of coloured slips.

Jodie Neale:

Most of Neale's work is wheel thrown and raku fired. When working on her burnished pottery Neale applies horsehair and feathers to the heated pots to create delicate carbon trails and smoke patterns.

Beate Gegenwart:

Beate Gegenwart, (vitreous enamel on steel, sgraffito)

Kim Colebrook:

Blocks of porcelain layered with black onyx porcelain and various iron oxides, in a loose Nerikomi style. Colebrook cuts, rolls and carves sections of clay into forms that show the layers.

Lisa-Marie Tann:

Margaret Frith:

Simon Rich:

Contemporary Craft Show, MA graduates of Hereford College of Art, 2024:

Jenny Hodgeman:

Claire Cawte:

Claire Maloney: